Structural analysis of interior layered deposits in north and south Coprates Chasma, Mars

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Abstract

Interior layered deposits within an embayment in the northern as well as near the
southern wall of Coprates Chasma in the Valles Marineris, Mars are studied using HRSC,
CTX, HiRISE and CRISM data. In the northern embayment, layered deposits outcrop in
three separate locations (a western deposit, a central deposit and an eastern deposit). The
central layered deposit in the north has a stratigraphic thickness of 2 km. The western
layered deposit abuts against the chasma wall appearing to have a relatively un-eroded
depositional surface. The eastern deposit is near a landslide scar which appears to have
exposed basement layering showing downward displacement. This northern embayment
is suggested to have been an ancestral basin.
The triangular edged deposit near the southern wall of Coprates Chasma has an
elongated mound protruding from the central edge and is suggested to be the outer limits
of a fault block which is back rotated 6° south. The rotation may be the result of the
Valles Marineris opening.